Trump greets Netanyahu with smiles, handshakes and a jolt or two

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a couple of jolts when they met for the first time on Wednesday as leaders of the United States and Israel.

If there were differences, the two men – each immersed in political turmoil on the home front - did all they could to mask them during a White House news conference brimming with smiles, asides and efforts to show how much they like each other.

"Bibi and I have known each other a long time -- a smart man, great negotiator," said Trump, referring to the 67-year-old Israeli leader by his nickname.

Netanyahu was equally effusive in response: "There is no greater supporter of the Jewish people and the Jewish state than President Donald Trump," he said, referring to the 70-year-old U.S. president who took office on Jan. 20.

Trump went some distance to embrace Netanyahu’s views, upending decades of U.S. Middle East policy by dropping insistence on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Netanyahu sought to demonstrate personal chemistry with the American property-mogul-turned-politician, an acquaintance since the 1980s, especially after eight years of awkwardness and tensions with his predecessor, President Barack Obama.

But Trump caught Netanyahu off-guard, at one point saying that if a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was going to be reached, “Both sides will have to make compromises.”